5-car accident snarls commute on Route 7

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT)

Published
7:00 pm EST, Wednesday, February 16, 2005

The heavily traveled road was closed for approximately three hours as emergency personnel evacuated the injured and police tried to determine the cause of the crash, which occurred shortly after 5 p.m.

"All you could see for a mile to a mile-and-a-half were taillights," said Heather Schlichting of New Milford, whose normal 30-minute drive home from downtown Danbury took three times as long.

Police eventually closed Route 7 at the Four Corners intersection, detouring traffic around the accident scene to Cross Road in New Milford.

Brookfield police Sgt. Michael O'Brien said the names of those taken to the hospital and the extent of their injuries weren't available Wednesday evening, and investigators are still trying to determine how the accident happened.

"There were multiple cars and multiple injuries," he said.

The crash occurred just north of the Twin Trees Inn. The last of the smashed cars was finally removed and the road reopened about 8 p.m., O'Brien said.

Schlichting said traffic, which can slow to a crawl between the end of Super 7 and Four Corners on the best of days, was "inching along" until police finally stopped motorists near the motel and sent them back to the intersection of Federal Road and Route 25.

"You could smell something burning, but I had no idea what it was," she said. "I must have counted 15 police cars, fire trucks and ambulances going by."

Police said, however, there was no fire.

"When you see all those ambulances, you just pray that nobody died," Schlichting said.